


Angels Game

by Perpetual_Ignorance



Category: RWBY
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Ender's Game Fusion, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Pain, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-07-09 13:36:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19888693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perpetual_Ignorance/pseuds/Perpetual_Ignorance
Summary: “I’ve watched through her eyes, I’ve listened though her ears, and I’m telling you that she is the one.”“That’s what you said about the brother and look how that turned out”“The brother tested out for obvious reasons it had nothing to do with his ability. And… before you get started about how the sister tested similarly but ultimately failed you don’t have to worry. We won’t repeat our mistakes we made in her training with this child.”“What about all the doubts? She’s to malleable; to willing to be succumbed by someone else’s will.”“Not if everyone is her enemy”“So what, we make her think that everyone is her enemy? I thought you said you liked the girl.”“If the Grimm get her, this minor transgression will make me look like the favorite Uncle.”“Fine. Take her. We are saving the world after all.”OrThe RWBY Ender's Game AU





	1. Third

“I’ve watched through her eyes, I’ve listened through her ears, and I’m telling you that she is the one.”

“That’s what you said about the brother and look how that turned out”

“The brother tested out for obvious reasons it had nothing to do with his ability. And… before you get started about how the sister tested similarly but ultimately failed you don’t have to worry. We won’t repeat the mistakes we made in her training with this child.”

“What about all the doubts? She’s too malleable; too willing to be succumbed by someone else’s will.”

“Not if everyone is her enemy” 

“So what, we make her think that everyone is her enemy? I thought you said you liked the girl.”

“If the Grimm get her, this minor transgression will make me look like the favorite Uncle.”

“Fine. Take her. We are saving the world after all.”

\-------------

The monitor technician smiled nicely and tousled his hair and said “Weiss, you must be getting horribly tired of having that monitor stuck in you all the time. But I have good news, that monitor is coming out today. Were going to take it out right now and it won't hurt at all.”

Angel nodded. It was a lie of course that it wouldn’t hurt a bit. Adults always said that when it was going to hurt but by hearing that statement it was an accurate predictor of the future. Sometimes lies were more dependable than the truth. 

“So if you could come here Weiss and lay down on the exam table, then we can get started.” The technician said guiding Angel to the exam table.

The monitor gone… that was a disturbing thought. To lie over on my back in bed and it won’t be pressing there. I wont feel it tingling and taking the heat from my back in the shower. And Whitley won’t hate me anymore. I’ll come home and show him that the monitor is gone, that I didn’t make it either, I’ll just be a normal kid not like everyone else, just like him. It won’t be so bad then. He’ll forgive me for having my monitor longer than him, we’ll be…. Well, not friends, Whitley was just to dangerous, but, siblings… siblings we can be, not enemies not friends but siblings. Able to live in the same house, he won't hate me, we will just coexist. Then maybe when he wants to play Hunters and Grimm I won't have to play, I can just go read a book or something.

But Angel knew, even as she thought it, that Whitley wouldn’t leave her alone. That there was something in him that when he was in his mad mood that the one thing Whitley would not do was to leave her alone. 

I’m practicing piano Angel come turn the pages for me. Oh, is the monitor girl to busy to help her brother. Is she too delicate and smart. Ready to go kill some Grimm, little Huntress. Oh no I don’t want your help you little bitch… you little third. 

“This won’t take long,” says the Technician just hold still. “It is designed to be removed without damaging the body, but you will experience some tickling. Many people say you will experience a feeling of lost when it is removed. You look around for something that is never there, and you can’t remember what it was.

“I’ll tell you it is the monitor. But in a few days that feeling should pass.” The Technician was twisting something at the back of Angel’s head. Suddenly she felt a sharp pain that went directly to her core. Her back began to spasm and her head snapped forward hitting the exam table hard. Angel’s whole body began to twist and jerk, her hands clenched each other so tightly that they arched. 

“Nurse,” the Technician called outside of the room “Have to relax these muscles, give it to me. Now what are you waiting for.”

Angel felt a needle enter her back just above the neck of her shirt. It hurt; it felt like a fire was spreading through her but wherever the fires spread it made her muscles relax in relief. Now she could cry; for the fear and the pain of the experience. 

“Are you alright Weiss?” the nurse asked drawing calming circle on her back. Like a good parent… No… Like a good person who when they see another person in pain they stop what they are doing and help, even if that is just a little bit. Not like mother and father whom if they dare saw her cry like this would have her sent to bed without dinner. Maybe even put in a closet for a night so the sound of my sniffles won’t bother Winter’s slumber. No I dare not cry in front of them and God forbid if Whitley ever saw I would be beaten for sure. 

In a matter of seconds Angel tries to pull herself together and gives the nurse a reassuring nod that everything was fine. But everything was not fine, when Angel attempted to do either of these things. The nurse asked again “Are you alright Weiss?” 

Angel tries to speak but she was unable, she has forgotten how. “Damn it,” the technician says “You know we almost lost her right, we almost shut her down forever. They leave these things in their bodies for three years what do they expect. Keep her here for an hour at least, if she doesn’t start talking in fifteen minutes come and find me.”

And like that the Technician swept out of the room. The nurse stayed beside Angel whispering words of encouragement into her ear and telling her that everything would be fine. She was kind, Angel put her on the mental list she had of human beings that existed. 

She returned back to Mr. Peach’s class only a quarter-till the closing bell. She was still unsteady on her feet. She started towards her seat but stopped “Your seat is on the other side of the room Weiss. Are you all right? Were you sick?” Mr. Peach asked

“Yes,” Angel replied “I am fine.” Turning on her heel she made her way towards her proper seat. What was I looking for, I can’t remember what I was looking for. 

“Your monitor,” the girl behind her whispered but she didn’t answer. “Her monitor she whispers to the surrounding students. 

Angel reached up to grasp her neck it was gone. Just like everybody else now. “Washed out Weissy,” said the boy in the seat beside her. Couldn’t think of his name… Whitley… no that was someone else.

“Quiet, Mr. Winchester,” Mr. Peach bellowed from the front of the classroom. Mr. Peach lectured on multiplication. Angel doodled on her desk, while the teacher drooled on, drawing contour maps of mountainous regions and telling her desk to display them in 3D and spinning them at every angle. Angel knew he wouldn’t call on her even though she wasn’t paying attention because she always knew the right answer. 

A few minutes later a word came bouncing over the top of her screen, it read third as it bounced over the edge of her desk and seemly feel off the other side. Even when being insulted the method of delivery praised her. She after all was the one who figured out how to send messages and make them do various things while going across the screen. 

It was not her fault she is a third; it was the government’s idea; they were the one who authorized it. How else would a third like Angel be in school? But, now the monitor was gone and the experiment called Weiss Schnee was a failure. She is sure that they would like to rescind the waivers that allowed for his conception, didn’t work, so erase the experiment

The bell rang and everyone either started dumping lessons onto their computers at home or writing themselves reminders or simply just signing off and leaving. Some gathered around the printers to show off whatever was being printed out. Angel sat there staring at the child size keyboard of the desk and wondered what it would feel like to have the hands of a grown up. 

They must feel so awkward with their thick stubby fingers unable to make the thin perception lines that Angel could; so thin that she could make it spiral seventy-nine between the center and edge of the desk without it touching any other line. It gave her something to do while the teacher drown on about arithmetic. Arithmetic… Winter taught her arithmetic when she was three years old. “Are you alright Weiss?”

“Yes ma’am,” she responded looking at the time and realizing she would be late for the bus if she did not hurry. Giving the teacher a nod goodbye, she headed towards the door. 

At this time, the other students would be gone but the bad ones would stick around. They would be waiting for her, the monitor was positioned on her neck seeing what she sees hearing what she does. They could say what they liked, they may even hit her now. There was that Cardin Winchester kid. He wasn’t a very large kid but much larger than Angel which isn’t hard. She has always been the smallest the most easily picked on. 

Cardin was waiting for her by the exit of the school. He had three other boys with him, Russel, Dove, and Sky, he always did. “Hey third” Don’t answer anything, nothing to say

“Hey you, third. Were talking to you” Cardin’s gang began to join in the taunting. Don’t answer it will only make it worst, but also not answering will also make it worse.

“Hey there third, hey turd, you Grimm lover. Looks like you flunked out thought you were better than us but you’re not. Now you’re just like everybody else. But you lost your little birdy thirdy, got a band aid on your neck.”

“Are you going to let me through?” Angel asked

“Yeah”, Cardin said “On little piece at a time.” The boys high fived each other at the jibe while Angel starred on. 

They began to push Angel on all sides making her lose her balance as they push left and right forward and back. This was not going to have a happy ending so Angel wanted to make sure she was the least unhappy. Next time Cardin swung she tried to grab at it, but the people behind came to grab her and hold her still, she didn't resist. 

She didn’t feel like laughing but she laughed. “It takes three of you take on one under sized third.”

“We’re people not thirds, turd face your about as strong as a fart.” They let go of him and the moment they did Angel kicked high and hard, hitting Cardin square in the chest and knocking him to the ground clutching at his injured body. Angel wasn’t expecting to knock Cardin down after one kick. It didn’t occur to her that Cardin wasn’t expecting such a desperate move to have taken place, that he wasn’t taking this fight seriously. 

The others started to back away terrified about what happened to Cardin. They were all wondering if he was dead. Angel was thinking about how to forestall vengeance, to prevent future attacks on her person that would only get worse and worse. 

Angel knew the only answer was to hurt him so bad that every time he looked at her, thought about her, or even every time his bodies thought about her they would think twice before trying to mess with her again. So she walks over to Cardin’s prone body and gives him a swift vicious kick in the ribs. Ignoring all the secret rules of manly warfare. Cardin let out a groan; rolling over and away from Angel’s blow. She walked around him and kicked him hard again in the groin. Cardin could barely make a noise; there were only tears and painful sniffing coming from the prone boy.

Then Angel looked at the others and smiled viciously. “You may be thinking of ganging up on me.” Proving Cardin with another kick to punctuate her sentence. “As you can see that would be a very dire mistake. Because I have no doubt you could and succeed, but I am patient and for the rest of your life you would just be waiting to see when I would get my revenge knowing that whatever I have done to Cardin today I will do worse to you.” 

Giving card one last kick to the face, breaking his nose and spattering his blood onto the floor and over her shoes. She walks past the remaining group of Cardin’s thugs making moves towards the exterior door; no one followed her. She heard them whispering behind her about how wreaked Cardin looked but she pretended not to care. She told herself that it needed to be done, that she did the right thing now they will always think twice, everyone will always think twice before trying to hurt her again. She forced down the tears she wanted to shed, she pushed them down deep so they could not have a chance to reveal her inner turmoil to the group. 

Angel lightly pushes the exterior door open “Just remember what I do to people who try to hurt me.“ On that note she walks out the door into the afternoon sun. Why couldn’t they have just left her alone… I am just like Whitley, when the monitor is off and no one is around I am just like Whitley.


	2. Whitley

“How is she doing?” 

“You live inside somebody's body for a few years, you get used to it. I look into her face now I can’t tell what she is thinking. I’m not used to seeing her facial expressions I’m used to feeling them. She makes so little, it's not surprising, will probably have to slow down the feed to catch her micro expressions. Damn Schnee’s.”

“Come on… we are soldiers, this isn’t psychoanalysis. We just saw her beat the guts out of a leader of a gang.”

“She was thorough. She didn’t just beat him, she beat him deep.” The General releases a huff of laughter. “That sure is a lesson he is never going to forget. Just like Summer Rose at the…”

“Oh spare me,” Lieutenant General sighs, “So in the eyes of the council she passes?”

“Not yet, lets see how she handles her brother, now that the monitors off”

“Aren’t you afraid of what her brother will do to her?”

“You are the one who told me this isn’t a no risk business” The General says taking a sip of his coffee peering at the woman over the brim.

“I’ve gone back through some of the tapes. I like the kid I really do.” The Lieutenant General pushes her glasses up her face crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m just afraid that what we're going to do to her is going to mess her up.”

“Of course we are. It’s our job.” The General says, motioning to walk to his shuttle. “We are the Wicked Witch, we promise gingerbread, but we instead eat the little bastards alive.”

The General shuts the door to his shuttle leaving the Lieutenant General to sigh while shaking her head, knowing that the future for the child will be grim at best, not that her present is much better.

\-----

“I’m sorry Angel,” Klein whispered gesturing to the Band-Aid on the back of her neck.

“I don’t care,” Angel shrugs, “I’m glad it's gone.” 

“What’s gone?” Whitley asks tapping at his tablet as he enters the foyer.

Angel did not see Whitley as the handsome eight-year-old boy that the adults did. With white straight tossed hair and a face so strikingly beautiful. She looked at Whitley only to detect anger or boredom, the two moods that would most certainly end with pain for her. 

As Whitley’s eyes made to see the Band-Aid on his neck anger flashed through his eyes. Klein saw it too but knew he could do nothing in these matters. He gave Angel a reassuring squeeze of the shoulder and an empathizing gaze then left the room.

Angel starred on watching the man go, wishing she could go with him. Maybe we could sing together by the piano like we used to. Maybe we could walk about the grounds learning the names of the new plants mother has put on the botanical garden. Anything, anything to get her away from Whitley, to make him be angry towards someone else not her.

Angels mind went to thoughts of her sister and how she would handle these things. But she couldn’t think of a thing. Winter was gone, taken, by the Hunters to become a soldier, a weapon to fight the Grimm. Something she will never become. 

“They took it,” Angel said standing with her head held high hands grasped behind her back, with her every present mask of indifference in place, knowing showing fear was not an option. Or at the very least an incredible poor one, never show a predator your prey. “They took it and now I’m just like everybody else., just like you.” She knew trying to sooth Whitley was useless she had to try she had to even if it was just to make it hurt less.

“It doesn’t matter, you almost made it, you had your monitor for three years. I lost mine before I barely turned five.” He was becoming more visibly frustrated stepping closer to her. Angel forced herself to stand her ground to look Whitley in the eye as he prowled towards. Seething like a cat that was about to catch a mouse. “How dare you believe you are anything like me. I’m an Heir and you’re nothing.” 

Whitley began to pace muttering to himself his hate grew in the air. “You almost made it you little bitch, you little third, you shouldn’t even be alive, yo… you failure, you Grimm. You should be ashamed to call yourself a Schnee.”

This is all right, Angel thought. Keep him talking; talking is fine, it is what will happen after the talking that will be unpleasant. “But now you little pin prick those angels are not watching over you. They won’t know or care if something bad happens to you. No One will, not Mother, not Father, not even dear old Winter who must have failed so bad at being a Huntress that they forced Mother and Father to have a disappointing little grease stain like you.” Whitley spat out, vile spilling from his lips as he grabs the front of Angels bolero jacket lifting her off the ground.

“They’re not here listening to what I’m saying, checking to see if your in pain or scared. How about it?” Angel said nothing allowing herself to be dangled an inch or two off the ground knowing resistance is futile.

Whitley drops her to the ground as he hears footsteps rounding the corner. He smiles brushing her bolero back to looking smooth, tucks his desk underneath his arm and turns to greet the approaching figure. It was Mother, carrying a glass of what can only be assumed as wine, and spinning to face her children. “Oh, hello Whitley...um.... Weiss,” The elder Schnee said slowly as if she needs to think to remember her own children’s names “I didn’t know you were home from school.”

“Good Afternoon Mother,” Whitley says as pleasantly as always. Whitley was always kind and every so forcibly intrigued by the adults. Always attentive and alert even though he was most certainly smarter than any of them. He was just playing the game like any good Schnee would. “It’s been such a wonderful day, do you plan to sit outside in your gardens.”

Mother eyes lock on Whitely for a moment as if a coherent thought goes through her, but the moment passes, it always passes. And she goes back to her dazed look. “Yes, that sounds wonderful.” And with that off she goes lightly staggering down the hallway towards the garden.

“Has she always been like this?” Angel asked watching their mother passes through the garden door. Mother’s daily jaunts to the garden always seeming to sober any situation. Thankfully she was approximately ten minutes behind schedule today or the entryway may have become a battlefield.

“No, only after Winter was taken. She was kind before, maybe even loving, She doted on Winter and I, but no longer.” None of the adults ever spoke of Winter anymore only Whitley and I. Granted Whitley tends to just insult her but at least he recognizes she is alive. She’d be twelve now still in the Academy, now I'll never see her again, I am a failure.

It did not occur to Angel that now that she has been relinquished of the monitor she will not have an opportunity to see her sister again until her leave when she turns eighteen. If she chooses to return her, Angel sure wouldn’t. It made Angel sad, it always made her sad when she thought of Winter. But unlike Angel, thinking of their sister made Whitley mad. 

“Let's Reenact the Faunus Rights Resolution.” Whitley said calmly, but underneath that calm was a raging fire that Angel knew stewed barely contained beneath the surface. 

Whitley began walking to the training room. There was no saying no, no denying his request. Angel just accepted her fate and followed. 

\-----

“You be the Faunus.” Whitley says, almost giddy at the circumstances as he throws a white mask and gloves at Angel's feet. 

Reaching down she looked into the mask of the terrorist group known as the White Fang she hated this mask. It frightened her seeing what was supposed to be her, the greatest evil on the planet, if father was to be believed that is. 

She pulls the mask futility wondering how she can get out of this while beginning her warm up stretches. Do the Faunus put on Human mask? Do their children played games like this? This game isn’t like playing with the children in the school yard the Faunus always lost, and the game sometimes got mean. But, this game will start off mean. 

Whitley pulled his favorite practice sword from the display case. It was a single edged sword, known as a cutlass. It was shorter than most blades, because Angel believe Whitley liked to get hands dirty while fighting and being up close and personal is exactly what he likes. 

Angel attached her own weapons, appropriate for the role, a pair of play bear claws that seemed to come from a Halloween store, completely useless. Especially against a well skilled swordsmen like her brother. 

He gave no warning when he attacked, he slashed across Angel’s head. Expecting the preemptive strike she ducked and rolled to escape from the attack that would most certainly have removed my head, practice sword or not. Angel rolled into a crouched position ready to escape the next attack. There was no point in attempting to win this battle but it was a battle to survive for as long as possible, until Whitley would get bored and end the fight. Whitley, hopeful, would get bored.

Whitley kept slashing at her and she kept dodging he kept saying, “Keep running like the filthy beast you are.” and “I will destroy you, you monster.” Angel was terrified he’s always been mean but this was terrifying. And it was starting to seriously piss her off.

He charged at her slashing again for her head this time straight on, but instead of dodging like she has in the past… every time, Angel crossed the claws in front of her head and sent a kick towards his knee cap hoping to disable him. For just a minute, for once.

Whitley didn’t expect the tactic, usually Angel just dodges over and over. But not today, Angel already keyed after dealing with one bully, and she was ready to deal with a second. Whitley went down she didn’t expect for him to get dropped after one kick. He dropped his sword and went to grab his knee. He started screaming. 

Angel thinks she felt the bone snap. Like early when she was kicking Cardin in the face. Klein came running in with the estate nurse behind him. 

Klein pulled her away from her brother and out the door. What is happening? Did I win? Did I beat up Whitley. I’m a monster I’m worse than Whitley. Klein pulled her close and she realized she was crying. She was crying because she was a monster. Why do I keep hurting people? Why do they keep making me hurt them? But she knew why she has always known why. 

\-----

Whitley was taken to the hospital. The doctor said that his knee cap was shattered. Angel sat in his hospital room watching her brother sleep. “Whitley I’m sorry, I know how it feels, I’m so sorry.” Angel removed the Band-Aid from neck and for the third time that day she cried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to post this early because... I didn't think I could wait one more day.


	3. Ozpin

“The Butler... is going to be a problem, She really loves him.” The Lieutenant General says leaning forward into the screen. 

“I know, he could undo it all. But I don’t think that will be an issue. I think her desire to meet her sister, will get her to come with us. Plus the man is a Huntsman, he must at least suspect what is going on” The General replies taking a sip from his mug

“So what if it doesn’t, They have never really met before and you know for a fact Winter has changed, Angel will know it too. Time is a dangerous thing, sir. What will you do if she still doesn’t wish to come?”

“I’ll lie to her” The General says simply

“And, if that doesn’t work?”

“I’ll tell her the truth, we’re allowed to do that you know?” The General says with a laugh and the Lieutenant almost joins in on.

\-----

It was late when Angel awoke to hear whispering in the hallway. Her neck was cramping and my arm numb front the weight of her head. She stretched trying to remember where she was when her eyes landed on Whitley giving her a venomous glare. 

“Your in deep poo, they discovered what you did to me, and they’re going to send you to that prison state of Menagerie. Those filthy Fanus will rip you to shreds.” Whitley says, venom in his eyes. Even through the pain meds he still is coherent enough to insult and belittle me.

“What’s going on?” I ask, terrified. What if they’re coming about what I did to Cardin, maybe they want to take me because of what I did to Whitley.

“Klein has been here the whole night, then some men from the Hunters came asking about you,” Whitley spat. grin getting ever more wider, mirth in his eyes “They’re going to take you from here, they talked about you beating the living scum out of one of the plebeians at your school. Now there going to take you away maybe they’ll take you away forever.”

To Angel that doesn’t sound that bad, away from Whitley, Mother, Father… Klein, I’d really miss Klein. He’s my best… my only friend what would I do without Klein. He’s the only person who has ever really cared about me. He’s the only human being that has been a constant in my life. Being close to the faunus may not be good for my health, but neither does being around an angry Whitley.

The door to Whitley’s room opens and in comes a man who simply oozed power, he was most certainly a huntsman and a strong one at that. He had gray hair, and his eyes were hidden behind black spectacles. He wore an unzipped black suit jacket over a dark green, buttoned vest and green shirt. His trousers were the same dark green as his vest and he wore black pointy shoes. The man also adorned his neck with a green ascot with a purple rosary in the center. He carried with him a cane which looked more like an upside down policeman's baton with a silver handle. It must be his weapon Angel thought. 

Behind him stood a woman with blonde hair pulled up into a bun and green eyes hidden behind her ovular glasses. She wore a white long-sleeved top that left an open space in the front, and a black cape with a purple interior adorned her shoulders. She wore a high waisted pencil skirt with large bronze buttons holding it together. Her legs were covered in black thigh high boots that disappeared under her skirt. 

The pair of them were intimidating, it scared her to no end that not one but two huntsmen were here to see her. They were coming because of her. “Hello Angel, I’m General Ozpin and this is my colleague, Lieutenant General Glynda Goodwitch. We have come to speak to you on a recent incidents that have happened at your school.”

“Angel my dear,” Klein called from the hallway “Would you come out here so we may speak?”

Angel gave the man a nod and made her way out the door into the hallway. 

“Sweetheart, what has been going on with you today?” Klein says once, Whitley was behind the closed door, and crouches down to her level. “I didn’t realize you were being picked on at school, again. That Winchester boy is a few rooms down the hall with broken ribs, and a broken nose, and all other kinds of horrible organ damage.” Klein seamed.. Frightened, I scared him. Klein is afraid of me, I am a monster. 

“That’s why we’re here,” The Lieutenant General says, also crouching down to be at eye level with Angel. “We would like to know why you kept on beating him. Once he was down, kicking him repeatedly was a bit excessive.”

This was more serious than she thought. She expected that a school official would be called maybe even sent the house. Not high ranking officers from the Hunter’s association. “Do you have any explanation for yourself Ms. Schnee?” said Ozpin

Angel was afraid, she didn’t want them to think that her actions today were in any way more vicious than they made them out to be. Whatever the punishment is I’ll take it, let’s just get this over with. “We’re willing to see this as extenuating circumstances,” Ozpin said “but kicking the boy repeatedly while he was already down in the face and groan doesn’t look good, It sounds like you really enjoyed it.”

“I didn’t, much” Angel whispered, but the last part remained silent only within her own mind. Her voice almost reaching the point of tears while she shook her head.

“Then why did you do it?” Goodwitch said softly gently resting her hand on Angel’s shoulder as if to support her. 

“He had his gang with him,” Angel said trying to pull herself together. She didn’t want to cry in front of strangers. Father would have her head if she makes it out of this. 

“So that excuses anything?” Ozpin pushed more

“No,” Angel says more firmly “But, I didn’t just want to win this fight. I had to beat him, I had to make him not want to fight me again. I was protecting myself, not just today, but everyday going forward. It was the only choice, to avoid further beatings. I just wanted them to leave me alone.” Though she tried not to, she cried, in front of these strangers, in front of Klein. She was a monster. Angel didn’t like to cry, and in less than a day she has now cried four times, and each time has been worse than the last. She was a weak, monster.

“Why didn’t you call for help?” Klein asked rubbing circles in to her back trying to sooth her. 

“They took away the monitor” Angel says in between sobs. “I had to take care of myself.”

Goodwitch and Ozpin share a look. General Ozpin moves down to eye level with Angel and sticks out his hand. “We would like to invite you to join our school.”

“But the monitor?” Klein asked

“The final step in Angel’s testing was to see what happens once the monitor was out. We don’t always do it that way but this time we felt it was necessary.”

“And she passed?” Klein says incredulously. “By putting both the Winchester boy and her own brother in the hospital made her pass. What would you have done if she would have killed him? Planned a parade.” The man was furious his eyes shifting rapidly between different shades of red. 

Angel has never seen Klein so mad, deeply concerned and extemely frustrated maybe, but mad that was almost unthinkable. It was because of her, she is a monster. Klein was always kind and gentle and she drove him to this. She should be sent away. 

“It isn’t what she did Mr. Sieben, It’s why she did it” Goodwitch said 

“These are the requisition, Angel has been selected to participate in the Hunters program by the Hunters association.” Ozpin said handing Klein a folder. “Since the day she has been conceived she has been ours her parents have no say, you even less so. That is the only reason why she was even born, she has been ours to take from the very day she was born.”

“Then why did you make us think that you were not going to take her, when you really were after all?”

“You are a Huntsmen Mr. Sieben, you understand must understand we have rules. We had to be certain the Miss Schnee would be fit to the task at hand. You have seen the Grimm, you know what we are fighting. The fact that I am here personally is a testament to how highly Miss Schnee will be valued in this organization. If were looking for killers we would have taken the boy.” Ozpin points a thumb at Whitley’s hospital room. Klein lets out an uncharacteristic huff seeming to concede defeat.

There were tears in Klein’s eyes, Angel has never seen him like this. “May I speak to Angel in private please?”

“Of course, though it is her choice whether or not she comes with us,” Goodwitch says standing with her colleague 

“I’ll be honest with you Weiss, what you will go through if you choose to come with us will not be easy. It will be more difficult than anything you have gone through before. You will be more heavily put into your maths, military strategy, physics and engineering, and many more things that we can not discuss because they are super classified. I know you may already have some training in those areas do to your family's special relationship with the military. But, You will be pushed to the edge of human endurance than shoved off the edge several times. Do you understand, there is no easy out?” General Ozpin said as if it was rehearsed

Angel simply nodded while being led away by Klein knowing already what she will have to do. No, what she was born to do. “Angel my darling, you know you don’t have to do this, right? That you don’t have to go with them right sweetheart.” Angel nodded. 

“But I know you, I know you have already decided. You remind me so much of your sister, and even your mother when she was younger. Always so strong and independent, I blame myself because I taught you that ‘the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,’” Angel smiles remembering a happier day in the gardens. “So I will not try to stop you, because I am so proud of you, knowing that I raised a spectacular human being never forget that, and you better write once a month.” 

Tears we’re in the man’s eyes, they were proud tears. Angel hugged him for the last time. Knowing that it will be a very long time before they see each other again. He doesn’t think she's a monster. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and whispered “Thank you, I love you.” Then she turned and left. 

Goodwitch reached out her hand and Weiss took it. “Are you ready dear? Would you like to say goodbye to your brother?”

“No. I’m sure he already knows. Will I see Winter, where we are going?” She asks as they walk to leave the hospital

“Possibly, but she may not be the same as you will remember,” Goodwitch said guiding them towards the exit

“I’m not sure I remember her at all,” they continued to walk with them

“Your sister, and even your brother are the best we have seen in a long time, but your brother as you know was and is cruel, your sister even through our best efforts wasn’t what we expected. You are our best hope in defeating the Grimm. You must train hard and learn as much as you can because someday the fate of all Remnant may well be on your shoulders.” Ozpin said as they stepped out into the city streets. 

No pressure. Angels muses as the two Generals converse amongst themselves.

\-----

“Are we doing the right thing, Oz?” Glynda spoke quietly to the General as they watch Angel sleep in her room of the hotel.

“No,” Ozpin said sipping on his hot chocolate. “But to save the world sacrifices have to be made, and this time around its our morality. What we do to these children to make them into perfect soldiers, to make them into perfect commanders, is anything but right and moral. But it needs to be done for the sake of humanity. 

“If that means I have to break all these little geniuses down into tiny pieces then build them back up again, then so be it. If that means we have to sacrifice, thousands on thousands of the untamed masses to see humanity survive the coming threat then I will do it. There is no greater sacrifice than a sacrifice made in the name of humanity.”

“I suppose that’s what we're here for. But at what cost?”

“There is no greater cost than our species survival”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end of the prequel chapters. Next chapter things start to get exciting.


	4. Launch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took me longer than strictly necessary. I wasn't happy with the first iteration of this chapter and decided to do a massive rewrite. I hope you all like.

“With Angel, we have to maintain a delicate balance. To keep her isolated enough that she doesn't adopt the system here otherwise we’ll lose her, and her creativity too. But, we also have to make her a strong leader, someone these little hunters are willing to follow into battle.” Ozpin says sipping on his hot chocolate 

“If she earns rank, she’ll lead. She’s a Schnee it's what they were born to do.” Glynda replies tapping away at her tablet indifferent of the conversation

“It isn't that simple. She has to be able to delegate to work well with her subordinates. She won't just be commanding a few squadrons at a time, but hundreds on hundreds of veteran Huntsman. Plus we can’t assume that, Winter is most certainly not a leader.

“Not only that but she has to decide how to best use said Huntsman groups based on their abilities. Which vary greatly, this is not a task one can do alone.” 

“Great she has to be a genius and nice too. And Winter chose not to lead and you and I both know it.” 

“Not nice, nice will let the Grimm have us all. It wasn’t a choice we broke her, one to many times. We will not be making that mistake again.”

“So you’re gonna isolate her?”

“No, she’ll do that herself. The kid is a loner by heart, prefers solitude to personal companionship. What we have to do is give her someone to rely on, someone who fulfills her deepest desires. To show her that people can be...useful..., at least a little.” 

“So how are you going to do that, we don’t want her to start liking people.” Ozpin slides his tablet towards her displaying the profile of a student. After one glance she knows who it is. 

“You can’t be serious in accepting her to this school. That child is... well…” Glynda stumbles over her words “She's dangerous and not just to Angel, the whole school, maybe even for us. You can’t control her not even her father co...” Ozpin cut her off with a slice of his hand before she could go into a full rant. 

“I can and I will, it will be good for both of them. Angel needs to learn how to lead, how to gain someone's loyalty, and why not give her someone who needs to be modeled, properly. Angel also needs someone to teach her combat, this girl is distinctly suited to bring out the best in her rivals. Plus, Angel is one of the few people in the school to know sign language.”

“Really that's your argument sign language… Sign language, Ozpin. That girl is a killer. She is barely half a decade old and she has killed twice as many. You think Angel can control her?”

“Yep, she isn’t just the sweet little girl, at least not on the inside Glynda. She's a killer and that terrifies her to her very core. That is the very reason I believe she will be our next great commander. Angel needs to learn that there is a difference between doing terrible things and being a terrible person. What better way than confronting her with the very thing she fears but also... deeply desires.”

Glynda rolls her eyes, “Sometimes I think you enjoy breaking these little geniuses.” 

“It’s an art Glynda, and I am very very good at it. But enjoy… maybe a little. When we put the pieces back together it makes them better. They are stronger than they can ever imagine, with powers beyond what most could possibly imagine. It’s simply beautiful isn’t it...” Ozpin smirks behind his mug enjoying the bewildered look on Glynda's face. 

“You’re a monster, and a possible psychotic.” Glynda says with a hint of a smile in her eyes, “If I didn’t know you were partly joking I’d challenge you for your position.”

“You wouldn’t dare allow yourself to suffer so.”

“Only if they don’t give me a raise for cleaning up this impending mess, and looking for a another,” again, Glynda says to herself taping at her tablet searching through the list of potential candidates. 

\-----

Why do they call it a launch? Angel thinks to herself. We’re just taking a flight to the school, right?

There were nineteen other children in her ‘launch’. They made their way from the bus towards the Airship. They talked and joked and bragged and laughed but Angel kept her silence. 

She noticed how Ozpin, Goodwitch, and other officers were watching them. She realized that they were making note of everything they did, everything they said. Everything they do means something. Them laughing, me not laughing. 

She toyed with the idea of fitting in with the other children. But she couldn’t think of any jokes and none of their's seemed funny. Wherever their laughter came from Angel had no clue, but she could not find such a place within herself. She was determined to make this new life work no matter what. She was born to do this, for this simple purpose, to be the best. This resolve made her serious. 

They dressed her into a uniform that her father would never allow her to leave the house wearing, let alone be in the house wearing. She's never worn pants before and is discovering that she doesn't like it either. They were constricting and even worse, there was a belt. A belt of all things it took Angel two or three (seven) times to figure out how to hook the buckles and even then she still thinks she missed the loopy in the back. Loopy how embarrassing. Even in her own mind the clothes were terrible. 

If that wasn’t enough, then came the dreaded boots one of the officers simply tied them for her because she struggled so thoroughly. How embarrassing, she could have figured it out they just didn't give her time. That was a lie, she told herself, you can’t even lie to yourself. 

The camo pants were finished off with a white t-shirt. She looked liked a military cadet, from the movies her brother enjoys. It was embarrassing, she was a Sch… No... she was Angel, she was no longer a Schnee like everyone else is who they once were. It was explained to the cadets that they were allowed to make there own identities their own life stories. Your past does not matter anymore, you are a soldier… no… a hunter until the day the world no longer needs you. 

There were TV cameras all around them, positioned on the shoulders of crouching men. The men moved slowly, cat like, so the cameras would move along with the children they were observing. 

She hated interviews and was overly glad that this did not require one. All she had to do was walk passed them and onto the ship. Just like everybody else, another dime a dozen. It was incredibly freeing.

Despite herself she found she was laughing. It was a silent thing barely audible except for her unsteady breathing, the smile on her face and the mirth in her eyes. The other children must have believed that she was amused by their joke but she was laughing at something much funnier, freedom.

“Walk on the airship one at a time,” said an officer. “When you come to aisle with empty seats take one and buckle up, there is expected to be some turbulence”

Another red flag, though she didn't realise, just yet. Angel was towards the end of the line but not the very last. The cameramen wouldn't give and filmed until everyone was well into the ship.

Angel thought about running up to one of the cameras and saying goodbye to Klein one last time. She knew it would be ridiculous, they would most likely edit that out of the final cut, so she did not. The children going to the academy were supposed to be heroes, they weren't supposed to miss anyone. Angel's earlier amusement was dashed at the thought of not being with Klein. But she knew she had to go, it would make him proud.

The other children were in their seats poking and prodding at each other. Angel simply sat down in a seat beside the window. She found that the seat held a five point harness that snapped in at the crotch, waist, and shoulders. It was snug even on her, she figured it most adjust to the person's sizes like in one father's race cars. Angel wondered why such precaution was to be taken.

She looked around cautiously looking for more clues and continued to become more concerned. She found hinges where they shouldn't be, extra compartments on the chair in front of her. Angel started to panic, but remembered that if they were not supposed to be there, they wouldn't be. They could not truly be in danger or the adults would be more concerned, right? Whatever is going to happen is planned, even if it was terrifying.

“Already figured it out.” Ozpin says as he passes her seat. It wasn't a question but she nods anyway. “I see… but could you keep it to yourself for a few minutes, I want to know if the rest of the rift raft is as smart as you.”

He said that loudly, maybe not in an exaggerated way but in the kind of way that everyone on the shuttle would hear it. This is not good. Now all the other children know I know something they do not. They know I'm buddy buddy with the General. They know I'm privy to a secret that they do not share. Angel’s eyes scan the others she can see trying to gauge their reaction. Almost everyone she sees is giving her glares. Except for one, a short girl with pink and brown hair tied respectively into pigtails. Her uniform was the same as Angels except for her, supposively ugly, brown and green pants were pink and brown to match her hair. 

She was giving Angel a thumbs up and a devious grin as if she was in on the secret and was excited for it. That instilled Angel with absolutely no confidence and maybe a little fear. She turned her attention back to General Ozpin in the hopes of ending this conversation quickly “I didn't know you were heading with us?” She asked hoping he wouldn't notice the obvious change in subject.

“Well I don’t normally visit the kingdoms for recruiting but you were a special case.” Angel attempted to keep the rage from her face. He was digging her grave, and he knew it. He didn’t stop to speak with her because they were friends or even just to yell at her. He came to praise her and that is the worst thing possible. At this moment she decided that getting into the car with the general was a terrible idea. 

If the officers give you a hard time the others will tend to like you, but if the officers favor you, the others will hate your guts. That's what Ozpin did. He made the other cadets hate her guts, and for what? Angel could not imagine. “Why me then?” 

“I came to find you because I am responsible for recruiting the best and brightest young minds of this generation.” He seemed to go from just addressing her to addressing the whole group, which is extremely not good. “I am to find a champion, one that won’t loss in the end, one that won’t die young. My job is to find the next leader of Remnant, expect not one that will become a dictator and died for it. My job is to make you children into the best soldiers and military commanders you can be. My job is to make a Commander so good they can defeat the Grimm so far into the ground that not even ruins remain.

“I am to create the best Hunters the world has ever seen…” he paused, letting that sink in, “most of you will fail, and as a result get tossed to the regular militia guarding some territory no one gives a damn about. But I will give you one guess who won't be... Angel, while most of you are still learning how to wipe their own butts, Angel will be commanding armies. When you were told the best of the best were going to be in your launch I meant it. You may have been the best and brightest in your hometown, maybe even your kingdom, but not here, now your just a dime a dozen. But you know who isn’t… Angel. And, you best watch out and remember that.”

With that he disappeared, literally disappeared. One moment he was there and the next he was gone. Angel was mortified, this wasn’t how it was supposed to go. It's like being a Schnee all over again, except this was worse. This was something she actually wanted. 

“Looks like you got it made here.” A girl said, to her left. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw a girl with big puffy ponytails glaring vicious daggers into the side of Angels head. Her green eyes could only show a portion of the rage the girl seemed to harbor for her. But what really seemed to draw Angels attention was the pink cat tail tucked wear the girls belt should have been. 

Seemingly the moment Angel took notice of it the tail bristled. “You got a problem with my tail, Schnee.”

Angel shook her head, “oh, won't even talk to me to good to talk to the riff raff, or is it just the faunus” She said the last bit with venom like, Angel has never heard. Considering that this is the first fanus she ever met this is not a good sign. “I wonder how much daddy paid for such special treatment.”

Even hundreds of thousands of miles away she can’t escape her father’s influence. Particularly its effect on other people. “My father doesn’t have anything to do with this.” Angel whispered, fighting the tears she felt coming, for once this was her own. The airship must have taken off during Ozpin’s damning speech. 

Pain shot through her body stemming from the top of her head. There were giggles coming from behind her, the boy behind her must have unfastened his straps and began kicking her. Go away. Angel thought, I didn't do anything to you. 

Again, a blow to the head. Didn't anyone see this, aren't they going to stop it. Another blow even harder than the last. The boy must be getting confident, it really hurt. Where was an officer, an adult. Then it hit her, they wanted this to happen, they wanted for her to be the outcast, like always. Ozpin most certainly isn’t human.

“Hey there, Schnee scum,” came the voice behind her. “You like this” Another kick, so hard Angel almost cried out because of the pain. Thankfully years of practice as a result of her family kept her cries internal. 

If Ozpin wanted to set her up than so be it. She wasn’t going to play the game. This was her new beginning, her fresh start. She wasn’t going to play not anymore, this was her life. No manipulative General was going to restart the dread she has experienced so far. There was no help coming, so she had to anticipate the next attack. She had to fight back. 

Here it comes, and yes the blow was there. 

She waits again and… yes another blow.

One more time… but this time Angel grabbed the arm behind her and pulled as hard as she could downwards, hoping he'd hit his chest off the back of her seat. But, at the same time, the plan jerked as it hit turbulence and sent the boy flying into the seats in front of her, then the ceiling, then the opposite wall and finally back down on to the floor. 

He wasn't moving, he didn't even seem to be breathing. But there was blood, a lot of blood. Before Angel could get a closer look at his injuries Goodwitch came flying in, literally, she made some daft movements with her wand hand picking the boy up and whisking him towards some EMT's. “When Ozpin said ‘Angel is the best’ he meant it, don't mess with her,” and like that she was gone too. Glynda may not be human either. 

I'm Whitley, I'm just like Whitley and Angel hated herself for it, but maybe not as much as she did before. Angel thought they were Ozpin and Goodwitch were her friends. But she was wrong they were mean just like everyone else. She couldn't trust them, she was wrong to think she could, the only person she can rely on is herself. They thought her to be a killer just like Whitley, I am not a killer, Angel kept saying to herself. I was defending myself, I bore it for a long time, I was patient, I'm not wha…

Klaxons went off blaring into Angel's ears consuming her mind. “please prepare for immediate ejection from the airship, the engines have met a catastrophic failure.”

What? What do they mean by ejection? Angel began to look around the other children started to scream except for one the same girl from early with the weird clothes and the pink and brown hair. She looked peaceful, not worried, not scared, maybe even a little excited. She gave Angel a thumbs up and the floor disappeared beneath her and she disappeared through it. 

She's dead. Angel thought. And I'm going to die too. The floor disappeared beneath her and she started to fall to the earth.

“LAUNCH”

\-----

All things considered, falling wasn’t so bad. The whipping of air blowing past her face could be done without, and the overwhelming sensation of I’m going to DIE…

Falling… not so bad.

Angel tried to get her wits about her. As she tuned about trying to locate… well anything… 

She hears the screams of the others in her ‘launch’. But she couldn’t locate them while being confined to the chair. 

Said chair seemed to have a mind of its own. As before she got a chance to fiddle with it’s latches the chair released her into the open air. After a moment of shock at the sudden change in events she tried to decide on what to do after stabilizing herself. 

Now the screams of her compatriots were even louder than they were before. She was above most of them that she could see. There were some crazy things happening around her. The girl who previously sat beside her has seemed to have burst into a stream of spiralling rainbows and traveling to the ground. 

Another seemed to have self-combusted, screaming, in what seems to be joy as they cannonballed towards the ground. 

Their was another girl who didn’t look so well, she was literally green, all over. 

What is happening? Angel thinks to herself. She never witnessed something so profound before… Then it hits her. 

Semblances…

One of her many tutors taught lessons on its relevance to the sale of dust… or something. Semblances are the result of the composition of dust in the body. Everything on Remnant is made out of dust and thus humanity has natural levels of dust in the body by nature. Most of the times combinations of dust don’t result in anything special, but in some cases it results in individuals gaining special abilities known as semblances. 

Overall if high levels of a certain type are found in the body, people gain powers that tend to lean in the direction of that kind of dust. But when multiple high levels of dust are found, Semblances can become harder and harder to predict. Whitley mentioned once that their family was unique in the fact that they all have the same semblance. Sadly, when she asked what it was he just shrugged and walked away. That information now would be most valuable considering the circumstances. 

Suddenly Angel felt arms wrap around her waist and instantly felt terrified. Her whole body felt off, like a deep terror just burst through her making it impossible for her to move. After a few more moments the chill seemed to dissipate to be replaced by a deep cold, like the one you would feel to walk outside without a jacket in an Atlesian winter, but even colder. Yet this time, it was comforting, familiar even, and seemed to come from within. It spread to all the places terror originally took hold.

The wind suddenly stopped bothering her, the whole situation seemed to bother her less. The person still hung onto Angel’s waist but she seemed less concerned that a stranger was touching her, rather intimately if she had to admit. Instinct seemed to take over her as the ground came to rush towards her, or was she rushing towards it. 

As if it were muscle memory, Angel reached for that place inside of her where the comforting cold seemed to magnify from. Then she suddenly she attempted to push that presents outside of herself… And it hurt. 

It really hurt… 

Like getting smacked into the floor then sat on…

Angel looked below her and she had landed on a giant snowflake. 

Before she could analyze the situation the snowflake disappeared and she was now in freefall, again. Was that me? Angel thinks unbelievably, as she tries to duplicate the sequence that lead to the snowflake’s appearance. 

Slap… The hit came from behind her. Angel remembers that someone has been riding her like one of those bulls at a Vacuan night club. They were smacking her back over and over, not particularly hard, but aggressively in between her shoulder blades. Angel attempted to shake them off, but they just held on tighter… tighter than anyone should possibly be able to, and it hurt. Then her chest hurt again, possible another snowflake. 

Indeed it was. As she got over the second series of painful after shocks. This time Angel got a better look at the snowflake. It was a perfect replica of the Schnee Family Snowflake in Schnee blue. She ran her fingers over the symbol, trying to memorize every bit and piece of it, like she has thousands of times before. Even in the middle of falling to her death, she can’t escape the legacy her life was built on. There is no denying that this is her semblance. There is no escaping who she is… 

Weiss Schnee… Third… Worthless… Damned...

The snowflake was gone again, but this time Angel didn’t care. She would just let herself fall. No one would care. 

Harder slaps started falling hard on her back again, but Angel didn’t care. Nothing mattered anymore. Beacon was supposed to be her second chance, her only chance, but even here shes nothing more than a Schnee. It was ruined before it even begun… but this time it wasn’t the bullies or Whitley or even her Father’s reputation... It was herself. Something deep inside her that was born and bread to be a Schnee. Her soul even thinks so. That's what semblances are, right? The presentation of your soul. And in her soul she is a Schnee, the last thing she ever wanted to be.

Her perception of the world changed. She was no longer looking at the quickly approaching ground but at the girl on her back. It was the multi-colored girl from the plane, but she looked completely different. Angel immediately felt terror, the girls eyes were solid black, like looking into the night sky and seeing no stars, but not because of light pollution. Like because all the stars died and it was this girls fault. 

She needed to get away from her, needed to do anything to get away from her. She needed to run, get away from… from… whatever this girls name is. Another snowflake was formed in between her and the girl. She put her feet on it and pushed off to get some space. Sadly that sped her closer to the ground, another snowflake appeared behind her. She smacked against it then rolled the last few meters to the ground. 

The fact that she was still alive shocked Angel more than she cared to admit. The second thing that shocked her was that the multi-colored girl hopped down the snowflakes and was now standing over her. Her hand was outstretched in the universal gesture of assistance, like nothing happened. Like she didn’t just look into the darkness within her soul and see pure evil. 

Now the girls eyes were what she could only assume to be normal. One was brown and the other pink, they seemed to alternate as she blinked. Angel didn’t know how to feel right now but getting as far away from this girl seemed like the right idea. 

Angel tried backing away completely unsuccessfully, because everytime she would move away they strange girl would move closer. Either by blatantly ignoring the hint, or just being ignorant of the… unpleasantness.

Eventually Angel just gave up and accepted the girls hand. She was strong, she whipped Angel on to her feet and even caught her a bit when she lost her balance. 

Angel didn’t know what to do now that she was on her feet and, more or less, confused by the turn of events. The girl in front of her was short, very short, even shorter than Angel and she was not particularly tall. In fact, some may have commented that she was a midget. 

Angel knew she should say something, that anyone should say something. But, she didn’t have anything to say and apparently neither did this girl. 

“I’m Angel, who are you?” Angel decided that maybe introductions were in order but all she got was a shrug. Great start. Angel thinks to herself, blushing a bit at the failed conversation starter.

Angel finally noticed that the girl was signing to her. She tried to gather herself, trying to remember what she knows of sign language. 

‘I’m no one,’ The girl signed.

“Everyone is someone, it’s ok to tell me.” Angel said, starting to get uncomfortable. 

‘Not me,’ The girl just shrugged indifferently, giving very little indication that she cared. ‘I don’t have a name’

“Oh…” Angel was at first absolutely terrified of this girl. But now she didn’t know how she felt. “I’m sorry,” That’s all Angel could have thought to say what else was there to say, sorry is what normal people say when they have nothing else to say, right?. How does a person live without a name?

‘Don’t pity me, it is what it is.’ Apparently Angel didn’t hide her emotions well enough. Angel steeled herself as to not reveal anymore of her true feelings. Well at least some of the more revealing ones. 

Great job Angel, now you look like an idiot. Thinking about it for a little while.

“What if I give you a name?” Angel says, before thinking it through.

‘Creepy…’ the girl signs giving Angel a devious smirk. ‘But I suppose if you have a good one’

Yeah… because that's the creepy thing out of all of this. Not the freefall, the flaming Cannonball, the free pony ride, or the demon eyes you have so freely displayed. The creepy part is that someone doesn’t want to call you It and be done with it. Angel couldn’t believe this girl but decided thinking any further on how this girl thinks will only lead to a deep seeded confusion. 

Angel never named something before, let alone a human, father abhorred pets, said it reminded him of the faunus. Until today, she never met a faunus before, at least not that she could recall, but if Father was to be believed the faunus were a people of little intelligence, and should be treated as animals due to their non-human extremities and nature. But... Father tended to be dramatic about matters concerning people he thought were lesser than him, which was pretty much everyone, from Angel’s observation. But, now Angel didn’t much care about that specific matter because she was a soldier now like everyone else. 

But, she digresses, a name, she gave the girl in front of her a once over. The girls eyes flashing back and forth from pink to brown, possible a sign of impatience, boredom or something else entirely, Angel didn’t know but the sight was mesmerizing. “How do you do that?”

The strangely colored girl seemed to be confused by the question. “What I mean is the color of your pants, how your eyes change color, maybe even your hair? How do you make them that color?”

The girl shrugged, giving a devious grin. She knew how but she wasn’t gonna tell Angel. Probably just her semblance, Angel thinks. This girl is becoming an enigma, if she wasn’t already, Angel was going to have to keep an eye on her, no matter how irritating the idea was. 

“Do you like ice cream?” Angel has decided that she needed to think before speaking because if she didn’t she was soon going to embarrass herself within the day. 

‘Haven’t had it much’

“We could call you Neapolitan,” the girl looks at her skeptically “you know, like ice cream?”

‘What about I haven't really had ice cream didn’t you understand?’ Now she looked at her like she is stupid, this was not going well. ‘If you like it, I suppose you can call me that.’

Internally, Angel was jumping for joy. But, as far as Angel was concerned she was as stoic as ever, possible even irritated. “Neo, it's nice to meet you”

‘I thought I was going to be named after ice cream?’ The newly proclaimed Neo retorts with very sarcastic looking hand gestures. 

Before Angel even had a chance to roll her eyes, “OVER HERE CADETS,” A voice boomed from across the field. Both Angel and Neo looked in the direction of the call, a very fashionable looking girl came jogging over to them. She wore a dark brown beurre that was trimmed in gold. A brown corset covered by a black jacket trimmed here and there with more gold, the outfit was finished off with brown slacks tucked into knee high brown and black boots, also accented with gold. She stared at them through dark black reflective sunglasses. Pushing her shoulder length brown hair behind her ear she called again. “Didn’t you hear me... Lets go, into the transports.”

Her voice left no room for questions, and even less room for disobedience. This got both Neo and Angel moving, they jogged in the direction of the transports. Once there they were directed to one of the trucks that already had other children in them. Some she recognized from her launch but many others she did not. At the front of the transport stood the beurre wearing woman. 

“Listen up Cadets,” She hollered in the perfect example of a drill sergeants voice. “My name is Coco Adel, and from this day forward…” Apparently Miss Adel enjoys dramatic pauses “I’m your new Mom, and the only person at Beacon that is paid to be nice to you, got it” Many of the other children nodded and laughed. Miss Adel had a room… well… truck bed full of friends. 

“Hey… Laugh all you like, but if you get lost, which you one-hundred percent will, don’t go walking around, opening doors and stuff. I guarantee that the experience may haunt you.” Miss Adel visibly shuddered seeming to remember an experience. Another round of laughs followed. “Just find the closest student and tell them ‘Coco is your mom’. They’ll pull up some directions on your scroll, which you will be receiving later.” She pauses making contact eye with everyone, her mood got serious and she through a black handbag with a gold handle over her shoulder. “That being said give me any lip and I'll break your face.” She ended the threatening sentence with a huge grin that brightened up the room. Angel thought it was suppose to mean she was kidding but her eyes said that she was being dead serious. 

The others in the room were laughing, apparently not noticing the menacing glare coming from the fashionable ‘mom’. The truck came to a halt and Miss Adel moved faster than anyone she has ever seen, and hopped out of the back. She put her foot on the bumper and tip the whole truck on end. Angel felt herself sliding towards the exit, the other children were yelling, some even screaming as they were launched from the vehicle. 

Angel sadly landed on Neo who was possible the boniest person she ever met. Once she got her bearings, she pushed herself off Neo. To say her new friend ...friend… I just called her my friend… what do you do with friends?... not now Angel, contemplate your life later, situation now... was not happy, would be an understatement, she looked furious, possible even murderous. Her eyes were flashing red, literally steam was coming out of her ears. Angel wondered if the steam was real or if it was part of the girls semblance. Either way Neo was currently stalking towards Miss Adel it was probably not a good thing. 

“Hey there short stuff, what has your knickers in a twist.” Miss Adel looked amused as if the charging youngster meant nothing, which quite possibly it did to the older teen. 

Neo just seemed to grow even more irritated. Making her aggressive stalk towards their new ‘mom’ with even more haste. Miss Adel just seemed more elated at her imminent arrival. 

Angel needed to stop her. Neo didn’t have a chance against a trained huntress, no matter how scary the girl may be. Angel couldn’t think of anything else to do so she runs to catch up with Neo and stand in her way.

“Hey Neo,” Angel grabbed the shorter girl by the shoulders. “This is not an advantageous situation.”

Neo didn’t seem to care that Angel was in her path, she tried to push past but Angel held her ground. 

“Hold on,” Neo continued to try to push past. “Just list…” Before Angel knew what happened she was tossed flat on her back, looking up at the sky. It hurt, it hurts alot. Angel tried to get up, but she could have move she couldn’t even move her head. When she moved her eyes around she saw she was surrounded by dirt. 

Now there was a weight on her chest that caused even more pain, when Angel looked down she saw a pink combat boot on her chest. Above her was her new ‘friend’ glaring daggers at her. The message was clear, ‘stay out of my way’ and like this Angel had every intention. 

For the next few seconds Angel heard a scuffle followed by a few grunts. Then like she got into the Angel shaped hole she was out and severely disoriented. When Angel finally got her bearings about her there was another child sized whole this one being much deeper and filled with a certain multi-colored individual who looked as equally dazed as Angel felt. 

Miss Adel on the other part looked incredible satisfied. “Follow me cadets, ill show you to your quarters.” The ‘mom’ took off in a swift trot leaving them all in her, literally dust. “Don’t worry about the rug rat she will catch up.”

With that last bit the other cadets started sprinting to catch up. Angel took a peak in the deep whole, “Are you ok?”

Neo wheezed so hard Angel thought something would come out. Angel wasn’t sure what to do. On the one hand this was her ‘friend’, and one should always help their friends. But this was also the person who smashed her into the ground with little effort. If what Miss Adel did to Neo was any indication on what Beacon is like, one who is an easy target is going to get pummeled. 

For the first time in her life, Angel thought about what Whitley would do in this situation. He’d probably walk away with a snide remark giving the illusion of strength even though he has none. That idea seem appealing, Angel was absolutely not strong considering the events of a few minutes passed and she need strong allies to help her. Especially if events like on the plane are going to to happen frequently. 

“Well… let me help you out of the hole.” With more effort the would seem reasonably necessary, Angel pulled Neo from her temporary captor.

The girl barely put up a fight as Angel helped her regain her balance. After a few seconds of disorientation Neo finally patted Angel's shoulder indicating that she could stand on her own. 

Angel thought maybe she should address Neo's suicidal march on their 'Mom', but decided the words would be wasted on deaf ears, considering Neo still look rather angry. 

"We need to catch up to the group. Or will never find out where we're supposed to go. Are you good to run?" 

Neo nodded and started off in the direction of the group in what looked like a painful trot. Angel shook her head. I think I made exactly the wrong friend…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long to get out, but... I doubt it.

**Author's Note:**

> If you have made it this far thank you for reading. This is my first attempt at a fanfic so hit me with all the criticisms you can muster. P_I


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